As of today, the Nintendo Switch 2 is entering its third week of life. Hard to believe, right? It felt like just yesterday we were posting all the stories about how Switch 2 pre-orders were flying off the shelves and wondering what games we’d be playing on the console after the racing buzz of a certain launch title wore off. Anyway, we all know by now that this is a hugely successful console, as it had the biggest launch in the history of gaming. Bar none. However, as it seems to be the “curse” of its console, there are many who look at its success and view things only from the negative lens.
For example, a recent report from The Game Business states that many 3rd-party game developers aren’t exactly satisfied with what their games are doing on the new system:
“Most third-party Switch 2 games posted very low numbers. One third-party publisher characterized the numbers as ‘below our lowest estimates’, despite strong hardware sales.”
Now, on the surface, that seems bad. However, you need to remember a couple of key things here that highlight the fact that this isn’t as worrisome as it’s being made out to be. First of all, we KNOW that some 3rd party games are doing well on the Nintendo Switch 2. Cyberpunk 2077, for example, is doing well on the system and was even one of the best-selling games on the Nintendo eShop.
The second thing is that there weren’t any 3rd party exclusives on the Switch 2’s launch lineup. Granted, that rarely happens with new systems, and it didn’t happen on the OG Switch, either, but the point stands that the titles that were there could be found on other platforms. And that brings us to the final point: all the 3rd party games on Switch 2 were ports!
When you look at the roster, it’s true that some are “recent releases” in a certain light, but others are from many years ago, including a certain game featuring the Yakuza. Heck, CD Projekt Red’s title is five years old! That one likely did well simply because it was a “refined version” of the game, and Nintendo players never had access to it. In contrast, many of these 3rd party titles can be found on the OG Switch or have already been played by people on other consoles.
In contrast, the 1st party titles, like Mario Kart World, did gangbusters on the system, which highlights what the “focus” of the launch party buyers was.
